Urban Economics

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The study of the economic activity in cities, including business development, employment, and income distribution.

Urbanization and its impacts: An introduction to the process of urbanization, its driving forces, and its potential impacts on economic growth, sustainability, and social welfare.
Urban land use: A study of the various types of land uses (commercial, residential, industrial, etc.) that exist in urban areas, how they are zoned, and their economic implications.
Urban transportation: An examination of the role of transportation in urban economies, including various modes of transportation and their efficiency in terms of cost and time.
Housing markets and policies: An analysis of the housing market in urban areas, including supply and demand dynamics, housing policies, and affordability issues.
Local public finance: A study of the sources and uses of revenue in local government, including tax systems, intergovernmental transfers, and public expenditures in urban areas.
Labor markets and urban economies: An examination of the relationship between urban economies and the labor market, including job creation, skill development, and poverty alleviation.
Economic development policies: An overview of policies and programs aimed at promoting economic development in urban areas, including tax incentives and public-private partnerships.
Environmental issues in urban areas: An analysis of the environmental challenges faced by urban areas such as air pollution, waste management, and climate change.
Racial and ethnic segregation: An examination of the causes and consequences of residential segregation by race and ethnicity in urban areas.
Gentrification and displacement: A study of gentrification and its effects on urban neighborhoods, including displacement, housing affordability, and cultural change.
Agglomeration economies: This concept has to do with the benefits that businesses and workers receive from being located near one another, including access to a larger labor pool, reduced transportation costs, and greater access to suppliers.
Housing economics: The study of how the housing market operates in urban areas, including the determinants of housing prices and the factors that impact housing supply and demand.
Transport economics: The study of how transport infrastructure and services impact urban areas, including the benefits of public transport and the costs of congestion.
Labor economics: Analysis of how labor markets work in urban areas, including the factors that impact wages and employment levels.
Spatial economics: This subfield deals with the spatial distribution of economic activity, including the impact of land prices, infrastructure, and geographic features on urban development.
Environmental economics: The study of how urbanization affects the natural environment, including issues such as pollution, water quality, and the impact on biodiversity.
Regional economics: Focuses on broader issues that affect an entire region, such as regional trade policies, interregional migration patterns, and the distribution of economic growth across geographic areas.
Public economics: Examines the role of government in urban economics, including the provision of public goods and services, and the impact of taxation and regulation on urban development.
Real estate economics: Analysis of the buying, selling, and leasing of real estate in urban areas, including the impact on property values, land use patterns, and economic growth.
Social economics: This subfield focuses on the social impact of urban economics, including issues such as inequality, poverty, and the societal costs of urbanization.
"Urban economics is broadly the economic study of urban areas; as such, it involves using the tools of economics to analyze urban issues such as crime, education, public transit, housing, and local government finance."
"While most other forms of neoclassical economics do not account for spatial relationships between individuals and organizations, urban economics focuses on these spatial relationships to understand the economic motivations underlying the formation, functioning, and development of cities."
"Historically, much like economics generally, urban economics was influenced by multiple schools of thought, including original institutional economics and Marxist economics."
"This dominant urban economics also influences mainstream media like The Economist."
"Since its formulation in 1964, Alonso's monocentric city model of a disc-shaped Central Business District (CBD) and the surrounding residential region has served as a starting point for urban economic analysis."
"Monocentricity has weakened over time because of changes in technology, particularly, faster and cheaper transportation (which makes it possible for commuters to live farther from their jobs in the CBD) and communications (which allow back-office operations to move out of the CBD)."
"Several explanations for polycentric expansion have been proposed and summarized in models that account for factors such as utility gains from lower average land rents and increasing (or constant) returns due to economies of agglomeration."
"...it is a branch of microeconomics that studies the urban spatial structure and the location of households and firms."
"...it involves using the tools of economics to analyze urban issues such as crime, education, public transit, housing, and local government finance."
"...changes in technology, particularly, faster and cheaper transportation (which makes it possible for commuters to live farther from their jobs in the CBD) and communications (which allow back-office operations to move out of the CBD)."
"These heterodox economic currents continue to be used in contemporary political-economic analyses of cities."
"The monocentric city model pioneered in the 1960s by William Alonso, Richard Muth, and Edwin Mills... focuses on these spatial relationships to understand the economic motivations underlying the formation, functioning, and development of cities."
"...urban economics today is neoclassical in orientation and centered largely around urban experiences in the Global North."
"Urban economics focuses on these spatial relationships to understand the economic motivations underlying the formation, functioning, and development of cities."
"Monocentricity has weakened over time because of changes in technology, particularly, faster and cheaper transportation... and communications..."
"Since its formulation in 1964, Alonso's monocentric city model... has served as a starting point for urban economic analysis."
"Several explanations for polycentric expansion have been proposed and summarized in models that account for factors such as utility gains from lower average land rents and increasing (or constant) returns due to economies of agglomeration."
"This dominant urban economics also influences mainstream media like The Economist."
"Monocentricity has weakened over time because of changes in technology, particularly, faster and cheaper transportation... and communications..."
"These heterodox economic currents continue to be used in contemporary political-economic analyses of cities."